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In this article, we report the first experimental results of a novel 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) p-i-n photodetector based on a vertical nanocone array (NCA). It is fabricated by electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. The performance of static and dynamic behavior was studied systematically. It shows the responsivity of ~41.9 mA/W under 360 nm at a bias voltage of -0.5 V and has a linear response to the ultraviolet (UV) light in a wide light intensity range of 0.1-10⁴ mW/cm². The response time decreased as the light intensity rose from 3 mW/cm² to 5 W/cm² and then leveled off at higher light intensity (>100 mW/cm²), which is about 0.25 ms. The photodetector -3-dB cutoff is ~3400 Hz at λ = 360 nm and light intensity = 100 mW/cm². Besides, the detector can respond to the UV light from 260 to 360 nm and the peak responsivity is ~78 mA/W at 320 nm. The analysis results have reference values for the development of an innovative 4H-SiC UV photodetector to some extent.

The natural gas hydrate resources in the South China Sea alone are about 85 trillion cubic meters. In the drilling process of marine gas hydrate, the natural gas hydrate will decompose and produce gas, as the rising of temperature and dropping of the pressure in the annulus. This process will have a significant impact on drilling safety. Therefore, it is necessary to study the wellbore temperature distribution during the drilling of marine hydrate layer. In this paper, the wellbore temperature distribution of safe drilling in hydrated formation is taken as the research goal, and the research status of relevant domestic and international wellbore temperatures was investigated. According to the characteristics of the marine environment and reservoir-forming characteristics of hydrate reservoirs in the South China Sea, the wellbore temperature distribution model of offshore drilling wellbore under the condition of hydrate decomposition was established. The temperature distribution curve of drilling straight wellbore in hydrate layer of South China Sea was obtained. When drilling the hydrate reservoir, the distribution regularity of the wellbore temperature is similar to that of the conventional offshore drilling wellbore. However, the temperature of the wellbore annulus near the hydrate decomposition site is lower than the ambient temperature, mainly due to the hydrate decomposition endothermic. In this paper, the sensitivity analysis of several main parameters of the wellbore temperature distribution of drilling straight wellbore in hydrate layer of South China Sea was carried out. Through the conduction of experiment and numerical simulation, we have get some new findings: (1) The hydrate saturation has little effect on the wellbore temperature; (2) As the drilling fluid displacement increases, the annulus temperature of the wellbore above the mudline increases, and the temperature of the wellbore below the mudline decreases continuously; (3) As the density of the drilling fluid increases, the temperature at the wellhead decreases, and the temperature at the bottom of the well increases slightly; (4) The greater the rate of penetration of the well, the temperature at the upper part of the wellbore decreases, and the temperature at the bottom of the wellbore increases; Among them, the penetration rate has the most obvious effect on the annular temperature. The results are expected to be helpful to guide the drilling process of marine gas hydrate and offer some references.

The smart home has security problems such as information leakage during file transmission, beyond the classical cryptographic scheme, quantum cryptography provides new solutions. A scheme for quantum-controlled dense coding with an extended GHZ state is investigated. In the home Internet of Things, monitoring devices, display devices, and home gateways complete the encrypted transmission of video files through the shared GHZ state. The method divided the file signature and the data part of the video file, utilizes quantum-controlled dense coding to form a sequence of encoded data packets, and reorders the data packets in sequence before transmission to ensure the security of data transmission. Experimental analysis shows that the scheme achieves high fidelity of $$99.95\%$$ under the condition of adding noise. According to the nature of dense coding and no-cloning theorem, this scheme has high transmission efficiency and low computational cost and can realize the safe transmission of video files in a restricted environment.

Owing to the advantages of ultra-wide bandgap and rich material systems, gallium oxide (Ga2O3) has emerged as a highly viable semiconductor material for new researches. This article mainly focuses on the growth processes, material characteristics, and applications of Ga2O3. Compared with single crystals and the epitaxial growth of other wide-bandgap semiconductors, large-size and high-quality β-Ga2O3 single crystals can be efficiently grown with a low cost, making them highly competitive. Thanks to the availability of high-quality single crystals, epitaxial films, and rich material systems, high-performance semiconductor devices based on Ga2O3 go through a booming development in recent years. The defects and interfaces of Ga2O3 are comprehensively analyzed owing to their significant influence on practical applications. In this study, the two most common applications of Ga2O3 materials are introduced. The high breakdown electric field, high working temperature, and excellent Baliga's figure-of-merit of Ga2O3 represent an inspiring prospect for power electronic devices. In addition, the excellent absorption in deep-ultraviolet band provides new ideas for optoelectronic detectors and ensures the dramatic progress. Finally, the summary, challenges, and prospects of the Ga2O3 materials and devices are presented and discussed.

Highlights Fully inkjet-printed transparent high-performance thin-film transistors (TFTs) with ultrathin indium tin oxide (ITO) as semiconducting channels were achieved. The energy band alignment at ITO/Al2O3 channel/dielectric interface was investigated by in-depth spectroscopy analysis. Fully printed n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor inverters based on ITO TFTs exhibited extremely high gain of 181 at a low-supply voltage of 3 V, promising for applications in advanced electronic devices and circuits. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00694-4., Metal oxide thin-films transistors (TFTs) produced from solution-based printing techniques can lead to large-area electronics with low cost. However, the performance of current printed devices is inferior to those from vacuum-based methods due to poor film uniformity induced by the “coffee-ring” effect. Here, we report a novel approach to print high-performance indium tin oxide (ITO)-based TFTs and logic inverters by taking advantage of such notorious effect. ITO has high electrical conductivity and is generally used as an electrode material. However, by reducing the film thickness down to nanometers scale, the carrier concentration of ITO can be effectively reduced to enable new applications as active channels in transistors. The ultrathin (~10-nm-thick) ITO film in the center of the coffee-ring worked as semiconducting channels, while the thick ITO ridges (>18-nm-thick) served as the contact electrodes. The fully inkjet-printed ITO TFTs exhibited a high saturation mobility of 34.9 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a low subthreshold swing of 105 mV dec−1. In addition, the devices exhibited excellent electrical stability under positive bias illumination stress (PBIS, ΔVth = 0.31 V) and negative bias illuminaiton stress (NBIS, ΔVth = −0.29 V) after 10,000 s voltage bias tests. More remarkably, fully printed n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor (NMOS) inverter based on ITO TFTs exhibited an extremely high gain of 181 at a low-supply voltage of 3 V, promising for advanced electronics applications. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00694-4.

A two-terminal 4H-SiC n-p-n bipolar phototransistor detector (PTD) with high gain is demonstrated. It was fabricated using the 4H-SiC epitaxial wafer grown by high-temperature chemical vapor deposition. The PTD shows a large photocurrent and responsivity enhancement over the conventional 4H-SiC p-i-n photodetector (PD). These enhancement effects are owing to the internal gain of the bipolar transistor. The detector shows a high optical gain of ~ 1450 at 360 nm and has a linear response to the ultraviolet (UV) light in the wide light intensity range of 0.7– $700~\boldsymbol \mu \text{W}\boldsymbol /$ cm2 at a low operating voltage of 3 V. The PTD can respond to the UV light from 220 to 340 nm and the peak responsivity is $\sim 125~\text{A}\boldsymbol /\text{W}$ at 275 nm. This work is significant for developing high-performance SiC-based bipolar phototransistors.

In this article, for the first time, a variation of lateral doping (VLD) technique was proposed to improve blocking voltage and ON-resistance properties in the lateral $\beta $ -Ga2O3 metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Enhancement-mode operation was achieved in the VLD transistor. The maximum transconductance of this new device is more than three times as large as the uniformly doped (UD) transistor. Moreover, the OFF-state electric field at the channel was suppressed compared to the UD transistor, resulting in higher blocking voltage. We also investigated the optimal device properties with changing channel concentration in the drift region of VLD transistor. A power figure of merit of 332.7 MW/cm2 was reached by VLD design. Thus, this proposed structure provides a new design strategy for high-power $\beta $ -Ga2O3 MOSFETs.

Acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 4 (ACSL4) is an important isozyme for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) metabolism that dictates ferroptosis sensitivity. The role of ACSL4 in the progression of ischemic stroke is unclear. Here, we found that ACSL4 expression was suppressed in the early phase of ischemic stroke and this suppression was induced by HIF-1α. Knockdown of ACSL4 protected mice against brain ischemia, whereas, forced overexpression of ACSL4 exacerbated ischemic brain injury. ACSL4 promoted neuronal death via enhancing lipid peroxidation, a marker of ferroptosis. Moreover, knockdown of ACSL4 inhibited proinflammatory cytokine production in microglia. These data identify ACSL4 as a novel regulator of neuronal death and neuroinflammation, and interventions of ACSL4 expression may provide a potential therapeutic target in ischemic stroke.

Purpose This study was conducted to evaluate the status of depression and anxiety of healthcare workers and to explore the risk factors during the outbreak of COVID-19 in China. Methods A cross-sectional study was designed using convenience sampling to obtain a sample of healthcare workers. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect the information of the basic characteristics, workload, and the health condition. Burnout, coping style, anxiety, and depression were measured by specific scales. Multiple logistic regression model was performed to explore the risk factors of anxiety or depression. Results There were 902 questionnaires received between February 9, 2020 and February 11, 2020. The proportion of healthcare workers with symptoms of moderate/severe anxiety and moderate/severe depression were 16.63% and 18.29%, respectively. There were 24.50% healthcare workers experiencing moderate/severe anxiety and depression at the same time. The increased workload, respiratory symptoms, digestive symptoms, having done specific test(s) related to COVID-19, having family member needs to be taken care of, negative coping style, and job burnout were the independent risk factors of anxiety. Furthermore, the increased workload, respiratory symptoms, digestive symptoms, having done specific test(s) related to COVID-19, negative coping style, and job burnout were the independent risk factors of depression. Conclusion More attention should be paid to the mental health of frontline healthcare workers at the outbreak of COVID-19 in China. Taking steps to reduce the intensity of the work and burnout will be effective to stabilize the mental state of them. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00127-020-01954-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Introduction and objectives Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most lethal cancer around the world, with poor survival rate and high metastasis rate in patients. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to modulate the initiation and development of liver cancer. We aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA MAGI2-AS3 in HCC and underlying mechanisms. Materials and methods The expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 in plasma of HCC patients and the control participants were measured by qPCR. Hep3B and MHCC97-H cells were transfected with MAGI2-AS3 and ROCK2 expression vectors. Cell migration and invasion of HCC cells transfected with the vectors were investigated by transwell assay. In addition, flow cytometry and western blot were performed for apoptosis detection. Results We found that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in plasma of early stage HCC patients compared to healthy controls. After surgical resection, the expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 were increased compared to pretreatment levels on the day of discharge. During the follow-up, MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in patients developed distant recurrence, but not in other patients compared to the levels measured on the day of discharge. In HCC cells, overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the downregulation of ROCK2. Cell invasion and migration assay showed that overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the decreased cell invasion and migration rate, while ROCK2 played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of overexpression of MAGI2-AS3. Conclusion Our study indicated that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in the distant recurrence of HCC after surgical resection and affected the invasion and migration of HCC cells via ROCK2.

Aim To explore an effective personalized training model for nurses working in emergency isolation wards of COVID‐19 in a short period. Design This study is a longitudinal study from 24 January 2020 to 28 February 2020. Methods There are 71 nursing staff working in the emergency isolation wards of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital that participated in this study. The questionnaires were conducted with Likert scale. The operation assessment teachers have received standardized training. The self‐rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self‐rating depression Scale (SDS) were applied to assess the mental state of nurses. Results After short‐term training, these nurses can handle the emergency tasks in a timely manner. The pass rate of nurse theory and operation assessment is 100%. The 111 suspected patients admitted to the emergency isolation ward have been scientifically diagnosed and treated, the three confirmed patients have received appropriate treatment. No nurses have been infected. Conclusions In this study, the personalized emergency training mode was feasible in the emergency isolation ward during the COVID‐19 epidemic, which rapidly improved the rescue ability of nurses and effectively avoid the occurrence of cross‐infection. This mode can provide a valuable reference for the emergency training of nurses in the future.

Background and purpose The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between IL1R2 rs34043159 and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the Chinese population. Methods A total of 500 AD patients and 500 healthy controls were recruited. The SNaPshot technique was used to detect IL1R2 rs34043159. Results The dominant and recessive models of IL1R2 rs34043159 were associated with AD with or without adjustment of age, gender and education [dominant model, P = 0.019, odds ratio (OR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.89, adjusted; recessive model, P = 0.011, OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.92, adjusted]. The recessive model of IL1R2 rs34043159 was associated with early-onset AD (EOAD) with or without adjustment of age, gender and education (recessive model, P = 0.038, OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.37-0.97, adjusted). The additive model was associated with late-onset AD (LOAD) (P = 0.041). The dominant model of IL1R2 rs34043159 was associated with LOAD with or without adjustment of age, gender and education (dominant model, P = 0.005, OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.17-2.44, adjusted). Conclusion An association between the dominant and recessive model of IL1R2 rs34043159 and AD was found. The recessive model of IL1R2 rs34043159 was associated with EOAD. The additive and dominant models of IL1R2 rs34043159 were associated with LOAD.

BackgroundUrothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) is a common cancer of the urinary system. Despite substantial improvements in available treatment options, the survival outcome of patients with advanced UCB is unsatisfactory. Therefore, it is necessary to identify new prognostic biomarkers for monitoring and therapy guidance of UCB. In recent years, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and CD248 have been identified promising candidate bio7markers.MethodsIn this study, we first examined PSMA and CD248 expression in tissues from 124 patients with UCB using immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent staining. We then analyzed the association between the expression of the two biomarkers and other clinicopathological features and prognosis. Finally, we performed bioinformatic analysis of CD248 and FOLH 1 (PSMA) using the TCGA-BLCA dataset to explore the underlying mechanism of PSMA and CD248 in the progression of UCB.ResultsAmong the 124 cases, PSMA and CD248 were confirmed to be expressed in tumor-associated vessels. Vascular PSMA and CD248 expression levels were associated significantly with several deteriorated clinicopathological features. Furthermore, using univariate and multivariate Cox analyses, high vascular PSMA and CD248 expression levels were observed to be associated significantly with poor prognosis in patients with UCB. As risk factors, both PSMA and CD248 expression showed good performance to predict prognosis. Furthermore, combining these vascular molecules with other clinical risk factors generated a risk score that could promote predictive performance. Bioinformatic analysis showed that both PSMA and CD248 might contribute to angiogenesis and promote further progression of UCB.ConclusionBoth PSMA and CD248 are specifically expressed in the tumor-associated vasculature of UCB. These two molecules might be used as novel prognostic biomarkers and vascular therapeutic targets for UCB.

Low-cost, flexible and safe battery technology is the key to the widespread usage of wearable electronics, among which the aqueous Al ion battery with water-in-salt electrolyte is a promising candidate. In this work, a flexible aqueous Al ion battery is developed using cellulose paper as substrate. The water-in-salt electrolyte is stored inside the paper, while the electrodes are either printed or attached on the paper surface, leading to a lightweight and thin-film battery prototype. Currently, this battery can tolerate a charge and discharge rate as high as 4 A g−1 without losing its storage capacity. The charge voltage is around 2.2 V, while the discharge plateau of 1.6–1.8 V is among the highest in reported aqueous Al ion batteries, together with a high discharge specific capacity of ∼140 mA h g−1. However, due to the water electrolysis side reaction, the faradaic efficiency can only reach 85% with a cycle life of 250 due to the dry out of electrolyte. Benefited from using flexible materials and aqueous electrolyte, this paper-based Al ion battery can tolerate various deformations such as bending, rolling and even puncturing without losing its performance. When two single cells are connected in series, the battery pack can provide a charge voltage of 4.3 V and a discharge plateau as high as 3–3.6 V, which are very close to commercial Li ion batteries. Such a cheap, flexible and safe battery technology may be widely applied in low-cost and large-quantity applications, such as RFID tags, smart packages and wearable biosensors in the future.

We develop a unified hybrid compact model of a different structure β-Ga2O3 SBDs for full-wave rectifier and mixer applications. The model results are compared with experimental data, and a good match was attained. Its SPICE-compatibility for circuit simulation is demonstrated in the rectifier and mixer. Considering the universality of this model, it can be practical to characterize β-Ga2O3 SBDs with other structures and further evaluate their performance in various circuits.

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide. However, the impact of baseline lipid profile on clinical endpoints in COVID-19 and the potential effect of COVID-19 on lipid profile remain unclear.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort study, we consecutively enrolled 430 adult COVID-19 patients from two Chinese hospitals (one each in Chengdu and Wuhan). The lipid profile before admission and during the disease course and the clinical endpoint including in-hospital death or oropharyngeal swab test positive again (OSTPA) after discharge were collected. We used Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression to explore the lipid risk factors before admission associated with endpoints. Then, we assessed the lipid level change along with the disease course to determine the relationship between pathology alteration and the lipid change.ResultsIn the Chengdu cohort, multivariable Cox regression showed that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) dyslipidemia before admission was associated with OSTPA after discharge for COVID-19 patients (RR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.19, 5.29, p = 0.006). In the Wuhan cohort, the patients with triglyceride (TG) dyslipidemia had an increased risk of in-hospital death (RR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.08, 3.60, p = 0.016). In addition, in both cohorts, the lipid levels gradually decreased in the in-hospital death or OSTPA subgroups since admission. On admission, we also noticed the relationship between the biomarkers of inflammation and the organ function measures and this lipid level in both cohorts. For example, after adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, smoking, and drinking status, the C-reactive protein level was negatively associated with the TC lipid level [β (SE) = -0.646 (0.219), p = 0.005]. However, an increased level of alanine aminotransferase, which indicates impaired hepatic function, was positively associated with total cholesterol (TC) lipid levels in the Chengdu cohort [β (SE) = 0.633 (0.229), p = 0.007].ConclusionsThe baseline dyslipidemia should be considered as a risk factor for poor prognosis of COVID-19. However, lipid levels may be altered during the COVID-19 course, since lipidology may be distinctly affected by both inflammation and organic damage for SARS-CoV-2.

p+-Si/n-Zn2SiO4 heterojunction diodes were fabricated on Si substrate, and tested as X-ray detector for the first time in this letter. The devices exhibited good rectification properties at dark current, and the dark current density was $\sim 5.6\times 10^{\mathbf {-6}}$ A/cm2 at −40 V. An obvious response to X-ray illumination (generated by bremsstrahlung with a tungsten target with tube voltage 30 kV) was observed at reversed bias, and the photo-to-dark ratio exceeding 480 was achieved. Furthermore, the detector exhibited both photoconductive behavior and photovoltaic behavior to switching X-ray illumination, and response time and recovery time are discussed on both mechanisms. In addition, the detector showed fast response time less than 200 ms and the linear outputs against incident X-ray dose rate from 0.383 Gy/s to 4.596 Gy/s at zero-bias voltage. The results imply that the ultra-wide band gap Zn2SiO4 based junction-type detectors have the potential for passive X-ray dose detection and nuclear battery cell applications.

A memristor with a bilayer electrolyte structure (Pt/C/NbOx/TiN) is proposed as a self-rectification and quasi-linear electronic synapse. The device shows self-rectifying analogue memristive behavior with > 106 rectification ratio, which can solve the sneak current problem in crossbar array without additional hardware burden. Under identical pulses in potentiation process, the device conductance is quasi-linearly changed with 9.16% nonlinearity. In addition, the conductance change rate of device is effectively tuned by altering amplitudes and frequencies of spike pulses. Benefiting from the quasi-linear conductance change characteristics, excellent classification accuracy (95.7%) is achieved for the application of handwritten digit classification with a two-layer perceptron based on MINST stimulation.

High-quality CsPbBr3 thin films have been fabricated by pulse laser deposition (PLD) technique and severed as an interlayer for n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction ultraviolet (UV) photodetector. The self-powered photodetectors based on n-ZnO/CsPbBr3/p-GaN heterojunction exhibited a high peak responsivity of 44.53 mA/W and detectivity of 2.03✕1012 cm·Hz1/2W−1 under zero bias voltage, which has increased ∼30 and ∼178 times than that of the n-ZnO/p-GaN device, respectively. Meanwhile, the photodetector with excellent stable and reproducible characteristics were also demonstrated and the photoresponse time has been drastically shortened by inserting the CsPbBr3 interlayer. The key role of the CsPbBr3 interlayer, as a carrier transport layer, has been demonstrated by the energy-band diagram. The enhanced performances of n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction make them promising application in self-powered photodetectors.

Vertical Au/ZnO Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were fabricated on an n+ Si substrate and tested as X-ray detectors in this paper. The high-resistivity ZnO film-based SBDs had a large effective area about 0.78 cm2 and showed a notable sensitivity about 0.78 uC/Gy for X-ray illumination. The detector with linear outputs achieved an X-ray dose measurement across four orders of magnitude of the dose rate from 3.83 mGy/s to 19.00 Gy/s. The response current to switched X-ray illumination exhibited a repeatable and stable characteristic, and the response current mechanism was given and discussed. The results imply the potential of junction devices based on ZnO material for X-ray dose measurement.

Previous studies have reported that obesity can result in or worsen obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, whether abdominal or general obesity indices or visceral adiposity indicators have a stronger association with OSA remains unclear. This cross-sectional study included 4344 patients who underwent polysomnography (PSG) due to suspicion of OSA. We also performed a longitudinal study on 86 patients who underwent bariatric surgery to confirm the relationship between OSA and obesity. Data on overnight PSG parameters, biochemical biomarkers, and multiple anthropometric obesity indices were collected. In the cross-sectional study, waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) were independently associated with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) after adjusting for potential confounding factors (additional R2 = 0.232, standardized beta coefficient [Beta] = 0.210; and additional R2 = 0.015, Beta = 0.183, respectively). Logistic regression analysis showed similar results, as did stratified analysis of adult males aged ≤ 55 years. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis revealed a linear dose-response relationship between OSA and obesity. In the longitudinal study, no significant relationship was found between remission of OSA and improvement in WC and BMI (r = 0.252, p = 0.098; and r = 0.132, p = 0.395, respectively), whereas the change in the visceral adiposity indicator (lipid accumulation calculated according to WC and fasting triglycerides) was significantly correlated with ΔAHI (r = 0.322, p = 0.033). Abdominal obesity, rather than general obesity, appears to play a more important role in OSA.

Exploring active catalyst materials for solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting into oxygen has proven extremely challenging, mostly due to poor oxygen-evolving efficiency originating from intrinsically sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics. Ag3PO4 has been actively pursued as a promising photocatalyst for oxygen evolution from water-splitting. However, its low OER efficiency is a long standing problem. Both the construction of Z-scheme Ag3PO4-based composite photocatalytic systems and the optimization of surface morphology and interfacial contact in heterojunctions photocatalysts would be beneficial for boosting OER efficiency. Here we report on the fabrication of Ag3PO4/fish scale-like graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) sheet composites with well-defined heterostructures and intimate interfacial contact driven by electrostatic assembly. The Ag3PO4/modified g-C3N4 composites photocatalyst reveals significantly enhanced oxygen-evolving activity under light-emitting diode (LED) illumination. Effective surface modification of g-C3N4, strong interfacial interactions between two semiconductors and tandem Z-scheme-type pathway for more efficient charge transfer synergistically accelerates the redox capability of Ag3PO4 for OER. This work may provide new insights into the design and construction of high-performance solar-driven Z-scheme photocatalytic water splitting systems.

High-resistivity ZnO film-based photoconductive detectors have been fabricated on glass substrate by the magnetron sputtering growth method, and tested as X-ray detectors for the first time in this letter. The devices exhibited a low dark current $\sim ~100$ pA at 40 V bias and a fast transient reproducible response to X-ray illumination (generated by bremsstrahlung with a tungsten target with tube voltage 30 kV) $\sim ~200$ ms, which was mainly attributed to the high resistivity $\sim ~10^{9} \Omega $ cm of the ZnO film deposited in the oxygen atmosphere. The high resistivity was due to the zinc vacancy defects’ compensation with the n-type defects in ZnO film as revealed by photoluminescence spectra. Furthermore, the detector achieved an X-ray pulse detection, and the rise time and full width at half maximum of the outputs signal were $139~\mu \text{s}$ and 0.9 ms at 200 V bias, respectively. Associated with material characterizations, it was demonstrated that the high-resistivity ZnO film detector had the potential to be promising for fast X-ray detection application.

Xiaolong Zhao,1– 3,* Huajun Xu,1,3,* Chuan Dong,2,* Jiangang Fan,2 Gang He,2 Jianyin Zou,1,3 Lili Meng,1,3 Huaming Zhu,1,3 Kaiming Su,1,3 Mingpo Yang,4 Hongliang Yi,1,3 Jian Wang,5 Shankai Yin,1,3 Jian Guan1,3 1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery & Center of Sleep Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanghai Key Laboratory of Sleep Disordered Breathing, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Communication Science and Disorders/Physiol & Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shankai Yin; Jian Guan Email skyin@sjtu.edu.cn; guanjian0606@sina.comBackground: Cardiac autonomic dysfunction (CAD) is a common pathology in cardiovascular diseases; however, the role of glycolipid metabolic disorders in CAD development in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains poorly understood.Methods: In total, 4152 patients with suspected OSA were recruited in our sleep center. Metabolic characteristics including anthropometric and glycolipid data were collected. Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured to assess the risk of CAD; its dose–response relationship with OSA severity was evaluated via restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis. A segmented multivariate linear regression (SMLR) model was used to evaluate the roles of metabolic variables in different stages of OSA.Results: The RCS showed that CAD risk increased in a nonlinear relationship pattern with OSA severity, from slow fluctuation at earlier stages to rapid change in later stages. After integrating the clinical definition and RCS selected knots, we obtained the new four OSA severity stages. SMLR model showed that the overall value of glycolipid variables for prediction of HRV abnormalities was greater than the value of OSA variables at earlier stages, while OSA variables were more effective predictors in more severe stages. The discordance in respective relationship of HRV with metabolic and OSA variables sheds the light how metabolic disorders promoted the development of CAD in OSA, the later further in turn deteriorates cardiac function.Conclusion: These results are indicative of stage-specific involvement of glycolipid metabolic factors underlying CAD nonlinear changes in patients with OSA. Early control glycolipid disorders may help the control of CAD development in patients with OSA.Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, autonomic nervous system, cardiac autonomic neuropathy, metabolism, heart rate variability

The $\beta-\text{Ga}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ Schottky barrier diode (SBD) is fabricated and actualized a breakdown voltage of 472 V. A SPICE model for $\beta-\text{Ga}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ Sbd is derived from experimental results and applied to DC-DC converter circuit simulation. Then the $\beta-\text{Ga}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ SBD is implemented in a DC-DC converter circuit and acquired the conversion efficiency of 94.8%, indicating the great potential of Ga 2 O 3 -based devices and circuits.

In the process of oil exploitation, subseatrees sometimes vibrate. In this paper, fluid–structure coupling software was used to study the causes of subsea tree vibration. First, the complex subsea tree model was simplified, and ageometric grid model was established for software calculation. Then, under the given two working conditions, the software Fluent was used to analyze the pressure and velocity distribution of the subsea tree pipeline’s flow field. It was found that the pressure of the flow field changed greatly at the variable diameter and right-angles. Using Ansys Workbench software, flow-structure coupling calculations and modal analysis of the subsea tree were carried out. The results showed that the vibration of the long straight pipeline section was severe. Finally, the paper puts forward the measures to reduce the vibration of subsea tree pipelines and provides construction advice for the safe production of subsea trees.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common malignancy in the urinary system. Despite substantial improvements in available treatment options, the survival outcome of advanced RCC is unsatisfactory. Identifying novel biomarkers to assist in early diagnosis and to screen patients who are sensitive to immunotherapy would be beneficial. CD248 is a promising candidate that deserves to be investigated.Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data set and clinical specimens were adopted to analyze the expression of CD248 between normal and tumor tissues. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to identify independent prognostic factors and construct a CD248-based prognostic signature. The correlation among the present signature, tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), the tumor mutation burden (TMB), and immunomodulatory molecules was evaluated. The weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), the enrichment analysis, and the miRNA correlation analysis were performed to explore the underlying mechanism of CD248 in the progression of RCC.Results: The overexpression of CD248 in RCC was related to a poor prognosis, and a CD248-based prognostic signature could precisely stratify patients with RCC with different survival outcomes regardless of the training or testing cohort. The present signature could reflect the immunosuppressive landscape of RCC (i.e., increased infiltration of regulatory T cells and upregulated immune checkpoints), accompanied by deteriorated clinicopathologic indexes. The TMB and immunostimulatory molecules expression also increased with the risk score generated from the present signature. CD248 co-expressed gene sets were identified through the WGCNA algorithm, and several immunosuppressive Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were significantly enriched. The result of CD248-correlated miRNA further emphasized the importance of CD248 in RCC.Conclusion: CD248 is a valuable biomarker to improve the diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency of RCC. The immunosuppressive effect of CD248 co-expressed genes may provide insight for the present study, and miRNA would help to reveal the mechanism of the expressive regulation of CD248.

Background It was demonstrated that multifunctional protein APE1 (Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1) is closely related to tumor immune microenvironment in a number of investigations, Meanwhile, the abundance of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has been shown as a prognosis indicator in some researches. However, it remains unclear whether APE1 is involved in the process of TILs affecting the prognosis of patients. To this end, we investigated the associations between APE1 and TILs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explored whether APE1 would influence the associations of CD4+ T cells infiltration with the prognosis of patients. Methods Genome-wide expression datasets were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) public database under accession number GSE68465, GSE30219, GSE31210 and GSE50081. MCPcounter and CIBERSORT analysis was conducted to evaluate the abundance of TILs in 1006 NSCLC patients of GEO database. Spearman correlation tests were used to evaluate correlations between abundance of various TILs and APE1 expression. RFS (recurrence free survival) was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and the Cox proportional-hazards model. The expression level of APE1 and tumor-infiltrating CD4+ T cells was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results The results showed that the abundance of CD4+ naïve T cells was negatively associated with the APE1 expression. CD4+ naïve T cells infiltration was a favorable prognostic factor for RFS, however, there was no effect of CD4+ T cells infiltration on RFS in patients with high APE1 expression. Subsequently, it was further confirmed that CD4+ T cells infiltration was negatively associated with the APE1 expression level in 108 NSCLC tissue samples; high CD4+ T cells infiltration was associated with longer RFS in low APE1 expression group but not in APE1 high expression group. Conclusion These results suggested that APE1 may affect the relationship between CD4+ T cells infiltration and prognosis in NSCLC. This study provides new insights into predictors of outcome in patients with NSCLC, and suggests that combining immunotherapy and APE1-targeted therapy may be a promising treatment for NSCLC.

A tripod-double M type atomic system is proposed for generating stationary light pulse (SLP) encoded in degree of freedom of polarization, and realizing configurable polarization beam splitter through the active operation of the controlling fields and the additional intensity-modulated weak microwave fields. Compared to the previous work [Phys. Rev. A, 100 (2019) 013844], the present one has the following advantages: (1) the generated SLP and the retrieved signal field can be amplified or decreased in a controllable manner, (2) beam-splitting ratio of the left and the right circularly polarized components can be flexibly and continuously configurable in a wide range, and (3) the frequency and the polarization state of the input signal field can be converted. The current scheme, integrating multiple functions and showing excellent performance, may find promising applications in all-optical information processing.

Ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor gallium oxide (Ga2O3) exhibits high resistance to electrical stress, temperature, and radiation, and is now attracting increasing attention for power electronics and optoelectronics applications. So far, different phases of Ga2O3, including amorphous, polycrystal, and single crystal (α, β, γ, δ, ɛ, and κ), have been reported and their bandgaps fall in the range from 4.4 to 5.3 eV which is suitable for deep ultraviolet (DUV) solar-blind photodetection (SBPD). In this chapter, we focus on the recent advances in achieving high quality Ga2O3 materials with different phases for SBPDs application. First of all, the growth of different phases of Ga2O3 films are summarized, including the synthesis of bulk β-phase Ga2O3 and the epitaxy of different Ga2O3 polymorphs by various growth tools. Secondly, we present the-state-of-art SBPDs based on different phases as well as their detailed device characteristics. Lastly, the emerging Ga2O3 SBPDs with various device architectures are also discussed. In short, the development of Ga2O3 materials as well as their implementation for SBPDs have raised great of interest in the semiconductor community for solar-blind detection, imaging, and advanced optical communication technologies of the future.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a disease with higher morbidity, mortality, and poor prognosis in the whole world. Understanding the crosslink between HCC and the immune system is essential for people to uncover a few potential and valuable therapeutic strategies. This study aimed to reveal the correlation between HCC and immune-related genes and establish a clinical evaluation model. Methods: We had analyzed the clinical information consisted of 373 HCC and 49 normal samples from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected by the Wilcoxon test and the immune-related differentially expressed genes (IRDEGs) in DEGs were identified by matching DEGs with immune-related genes downloaded from the ImmPort database. Furthermore, the univariate Cox regression analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed to construct a prognostic risk model. Then, twenty-two types of tumor immune-infiltrating cells (TIICs) were downloaded from Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) and were used to construct the correlational graphs between the TIICs and risk score by the CIBERSORT. Subsequently, the transcription factors (TFs) were gained in the Cistrome website and the differentially expressed TFs (DETFs) were achieved. Finally, the KEGG pathway analysis and GO analysis were performed to further understand the molecular mechanisms between DETFs and PDIRGs.Results: In our study, 5839 DEGs, 326 IRDEGs, and 31 prognosis-related IRDEGs (PIRDEGs) were identified. And 8 optimal PIRDEGs were employed to construct a prognostic risk model by multivariate Cox regression analysis. The correlation between risk genes and clinical characterizations and TIICs has verified that the prognostic model was effective in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients. Finally, several important immune-related pathways and molecular functions of the eight PIRDEGs were significantly enriched and there was a distinct association between the risk IRDEGs and TFs. Conclusion: The prognostic risk model showed a more valuable predicting role for HCC patients, and produced many novel therapeutic targets and strategies for HCC.

Conductive nanomaterials are widely studied and used. The four-point probe method has been widely used to measure nanomaterials&rsquo, sheet resistance, denoted as . However, for materials sensitive to contamination or physical damage, contactless measurement is highly recommended if not required. Feasibility of evaluation using a one-port rectangular waveguide working on the microwave band in a contact-free mode is studied. Compared with existed waveguide methods, the proposed method has three advantages: first, by introducing an air gap between the waveguide flange and the sample surface, it is truly contactless, second, within the specified range of , the substrate&rsquo, s effect may be neglected, third, it does not require a matched load and/or metallization at the sample backside. Both theoretical derivation and simulation showed that the magnitude of the reflection coefficient decreased monotonously with increasing . Through calibration, a quantitative correlation of and was established. Experimental results with various conductive glasses showed that, for in the range of ~10 to 400 Ohm/sq, the estimation error of sheet resistance was below ~20%. The potential effects of air gap size, sample size/location and measurement uncertainty of are discussed. The proposed method is particularly suitable for characterization of conductive glass or related nanomaterials with in the range of tens or hundreds of Ohm/sq.

Measurement of electrical conductivity of conductive thin film deposited on a conductive substrate is important and challenging. An effective conductivity model was constructed for a bilayer structure to extract thin film conductivity from the measured Q-factor of a quasi-optical resonator. As a demonstration, aluminium films with thickness of 100 nm were evaporated on four silicon wafers whose conductivity ranges from ~101 to ~105 S/m (thus, the proposed method can be verified for a substrate with a wide range of conductivity). Measurement results at ~180 GHz show that average conductivities are 1.66 &times, 107 S/m (which agrees well with direct current measurements) with 6% standard deviation. The proposed method provides a contactless conductivity evaluation method for conductive thin film deposited on conductive substrate which cannot be achieved by the existing microwave resonant method.

Perception of road structures especially the traffic intersections by visual sensors is an essential task for automated driving. However, compared with intersection detection or visual place recognition, intersection re-identification (intersection re-ID) strongly affects driving behavior decisions with given routes, yet has long been neglected by researchers. This paper strives to explore intersection re-ID by a monocular camera sensor. We propose a Hybrid Double-Level re-identification approach which exploits two branches of Deep Convolutional Neural Network to accomplish multi-task including classification of intersection and its fine attributes, and global localization in topological maps. Furthermore, we propose a mixed loss training for the network to learn the similarity of two intersection images. As no public datasets are available for the intersection re-ID task, based on the work of RobotCar, we propose a new dataset with carefully-labeled intersection attributes, which is called &ldquo, RobotCar Intersection&rdquo, and covers more than 30,000 images of eight intersections in different seasons and day time. Additionally, we provide another dataset, called &ldquo, Campus Intersection&rdquo, consisting of panoramic images of eight intersections in a university campus to verify our updating strategy of topology map. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach can achieve promising results in re-ID of both coarse road intersections and its global pose, and is well suited for updating and completion of topological maps.

Resistance to platinum-based drugs, such as cisplatin (CDDP), has been one of the major factors adversely affecting the clinical prognosis of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While it has been demonstrated that dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) may contribute to cisplatin resistance in NSCLC, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. In the present study, the effect of exosomal miR-1273a on cisplatin sensitivity of NSCLC was investigated. Microarray analysis was conducted to analyze the miRNA expression profiles in exosomes isolated from A549 cells treated with or without CDDP, and miR-1273a was found to be the most prominently downregulated miRNA in CDDP-treated exosomes. Overexpression of miR-1273a significantly increased the cytotoxicity of CDDP and induced apoptosis in A549 cells. Syndecan binding protein (SDCBP) was predicted to be a direct target of miR-1273a by bioinformatics and was found to be downregulated by miR-1273a in A549 cells. Furthermore, decreased plasma exosomal miR-1273a and increased plasma SDCBP levels were found to be associated with worse therapeutic outcomes of patients with advanced NSCLC receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. These findings suggest that miR-1273a is closely associated with the development of cisplatin resistance and may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for NSCLC.

Background Sleep disorders may exacerbate many physical and mental health conditions, causing difficulty function in a healthcare setting. Workers screening for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection have a high risk of not only occupational exposure to the virus but also sleep disorders. However, the job-related factors associated with reduced sleep quality remain unclear. Methods All healthcare workers temporarily scheduled to screen the 2019-nCoV patients were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire that included questions on demographics, job-related factors, and sleep quality as assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Sleep quality was assessed over a 1-month follow-up period. Results A total of 116 doctors and 99 nurses were recruited for this study. The total scheduled work time was 14.78 ± 6.69 days during follow-up. Some job-related factors, such as number of work days, years of work experience, and subjective psychological stress, were associated with changes in the PSQI score. During the study, some workers tried out cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for sleep disorders using methods that were available online and easily accessible. Adopting online CBT was shown to be associated with scores of components of sleep quality, sleep latency, and sleep disturbance (β = -0.152, P = 0.01; β = -0.175, P = 0.008; and β = -0.158, P = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions Healthcare workers involved in screening for 2019-nCoV experienced reduced sleep quality, and a reasonable work schedule may help with maintaining sleep quality. In addition, interventions for healthcare workers should target self-help sleep assistance., Highlights • Healthcare workers involved in screening for 2019-nCoV experienced reduced sleep quality. • A reasonable work schedule and self-help interventions for sleep disorder may be considered for efficient and successful epidemic management and clinical work.

Background We investigated how the anxiety associated with COVID 19 impacts the severity of tinnitus and the outcomes of tinnitus therapy. Methods and Findings A retrospective research design was used to compare the clinical characteristics of tinnitus between patients from March to April 2020 under pandemic pressure and those from the matching period in 2019. Tinnitus severity was evaluated using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire and the minimum masking level (MML) measure while anxiety was quantified using the Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The assessments were repeated after a 2-month interval, in which sound therapy was applied to a subgroup of patients. In all, 94 and 70 cases were reported in the 2020 and 2019 groups, respectively. The effects of the pandemic on emotional status were evident from a higher incidence of anxiety and much higher SAS scores in the 2020 group. There was also an increase in the THI scores in the 2020 group, but the between-year difference was smaller than that of the SAS score. Moreover, there was no between-year difference in MML or the treatment effect, as measured via both THI and MML. Furthermore, the reduction in SAS score in the second assessment was significantly smaller in the 2020 group. However, a positive correlation between the initial SAS score and the improvement was seen within the 2020 group. Conclusions Anxiety increased greatly in tinnitus subjects due to the COVID 19 pandemic. However, this was not associated with an increase in tinnitus severity in 2020. Instead, there was no between-year difference in the THI score or MML or in the improvement of either measure after treatment. The smaller improvement in SAS score and the positive correlation with the initial SAS score in the 2020 group suggests that the SAS score change in this group might largely be due to the natural relief of pressure as the pandemic decelerated in China. Therefore, the anxiety change induced by the COVID 19 pandemic is not likely to have a strong impact on tinnitus.

YTH Domain Containing 1 (YTHDC1) is one of the m6A readers that is essential for oocyte development and tumor progression. The role of YTHDC1 in neuronal survival and ischemic stroke is unknown. Here, we found that YTHDC1 was unregulated in the early phase of ischemic stroke. Knockdown of YTHDC1 exacerbated ischemic brain injury and overexpression of YTHDC1 protected rats against brain injury. Mechanistically, YTHDC1 promoted PTEN mRNA degradation to increase Akt phosphorylation, thus facilitating neuronal survival in particular after ischemia. These data identify YTHDC1 as a novel regulator of neuronal survival and modulating m6A reader YTHDC1 may provide a potential therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

A neglected Monteggia fracture is defined as the fracture of the proximal ulna associated with radial head dislocation (RHD) without undergoing any treatment for 4 weeks or more after injury. One-stage operation of ulnar corrective osteotomy and open reduction of RHD might result in many complications. Therefore, a two-stage strategy, including ulnar osteotomy (UO) with or without annular ligament reconstruction (ALR), was adopted at our institute since 2010. We performed a retrospective review of 51 patients with neglected Monteggia fracture between January 2010 and January 2018. Patients with bilateral problems or concomitant injuries in the ipsilateral extremity were excluded. Radiological and clinical data were collected from Hospital Database and clinical visits. All patients were divided into 2 groups based on the status of the ALR: the UO alone (UO) group and the ALR group. There were 15 patients in the UO group and 36 patients in the ALR group. The age in the UO group (6.1 ± 2.3, year) was significantly younger than the ALR group (9.8 ± 2.8, year) (P

Background: The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China may bring negative impact on the mental health of medical staffs. This study was conducted to evaluate the status of depression and anxiety of medical staffs and to explore the risk factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed including an unselected sample of medical staffs. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect the information of the basic characteristics, workload, and the health condition. Burnout and coping style were evaluated with the 15-item Chinese version of Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI) and 20-item Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ), respectively. Generalized anxiety disorder 7 ‐item scale (GAD-7) and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to evaluate the status of anxiety and depression. Multiple logistic regression model was performed to explore the risk factors of anxiety or depression. Outcomes: 906 questionnaires were received between February 9, 2020 to February 11, 2020. There were 36.67% participants with neither anxiety nor depression. 38.89% of participants had mild anxiety or mild depression. The proportion of participants had moderate/severe anxiety or moderate/severe depression were 24∙44%, of which 10∙44% had both moderate/severe anxiety and moderate/severe depression. The increased workload (OR=1∙971, 95%CI: 1∙291, 3∙031), having respiratory symptoms (OR=1∙799, 95%CI: 1∙118, 2∙866) and digestive symptoms (OR=1∙697, 95%CI: 1∙083, 2∙639), negative coping style (OR=3∙415, 95%CI: 2∙272, 5∙163), emotional exhaustion (OR=4∙492, 95%CI: 2∙106, 9∙836), and depersonalization (OR=3∙906, 95%CI: 2∙325, 6∙528), were independent risk factors of anxiety. Furthermore, the increased workload (OR=2∙002, 95%CI: 1∙305, 3∙094), having respiratory symptoms (OR=1∙864, 95%CI: 1∙148, 3∙001) and digestive symptoms (OR=1∙681, 95%CI: 1∙062, 2∙644), negative coping style (OR=4∙674, 95%CI: 3∙079, 7∙169), emotional exhaustion (OR=5∙817, 95%CI: 2∙550, 13∙842), depersonalization (OR=6∙705, 95% CI: 3∙987, 11∙347), and decreased personal accomplishment (OR=1∙551, 95%CI: 1∙006, 2∙407), were independent risk factors of depression. Interpretation: More attention should be paid to the mental health of frontline medical personnel at the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in China. Taking steps to reduce the intensity of the work and burnout will be effective to stabilize the mental state of them. Funding Statement: Urgent projects of scientific and technological research on COVID-19 funded by Hubei province (2020FCA014) supported this work. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This cross-sectional study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College. All the participants agreed the online informed consent before entering the online questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled out voluntarily and the personal information was kept confidential.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with abnormal glycometabolism; however, the cardinal features of OSA, such as sleep fragmentation (SF) and intermittent hypoxia (IH), have yet to show clear, independent associations with glycometabolism.We enrolled 1834 participants with suspected OSA from July 2008 to July 2013 to participate in this study. Polysomnographic variables, biochemical indicators, and physical measurements were collected for each participant. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate independent associations between cardinal features of OSA and glycometabolism. Logistic regressions were used to determine the odds ratios (ORs) for abnormal glucose metabolism across microarousal index (MAI) and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) quartiles. The effect of the interaction between MAI and ODI on glycometabolism was also evaluated.The MAI was independently associated with fasting insulin levels (β = 0.024, p = 0.001) and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; β = 0.006, p = 0.002) after multiple adjustments of confounding factors. In addition, the ORs for hyperinsulinemia across higher MAI quartiles were 1.081, 1.349, and 1.656, compared with the lowest quartile (p = 0.015 for a linear trend). Similarly, the ODI was independently associated with fasting glucose levels (β = 0.003, p 0.001), fasting insulin levels (β = 0.037, p 0.001), and the HOMA-IR (β = 0.010, p 0.001) after adjusting for multiple factors. The ORs for hyperglycemia across higher ODI quartiles were 1.362, 1.231, and 2.184, compared with the lowest quartile (p 0.05 for a linear trend). In addition, the ORs for hyperinsulinemia and abnormal HOMA-IR across ODI quartiles had the same trends. There was no interaction between MAI and ODI with respect to glycometabolism.SF was independently associated with hyperinsulinemia, and IH was independently associated with hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and an abnormal HOMA-IR. We found no interaction between SF and IH with respect to OSA-related abnormal glycometabolism.

Monoclinic gallium oxide thin films were deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates at various substrate temperatures ranging from 450 °C to 700 °C by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technology. X-ray diffraction results showed that the deposited β-Ga2O3 films were oriented at ( 2 ¯ 01) direction. As the substrate temperature increased, the intensity of β-Ga2O3 peaks increased and bandgap decreased accordingly. Metal/semiconductor/metal structured solar-blind photodetectors based on β-Ga2O3 thin films growing at various substrate temperatures had been fabricated. The growth temperatures of thin films had no obvious influence on dark current and response to 365 nm light illuminations. The photoelectric properties such as responsivity and response speed of the thin films to 254 nm light illuminations were growth temperature dependent. At an applied bias of 50 V, the photodetectors prepared with 450 °C grown film had the highest responsivity of 2.18 A/W, and the photodetectors prepared with 700 °C grown film had the shortest rising time of 0.95 s under 254 nm light illuminations.

Paper-based battery is a low-cost, lightweight, flexible and environmentally-friendly technology for small-power and flexible electronics, which can be conveniently fabricated by printing. In this work, we propose an innovative paper-based hybrid battery using Zn foil as anode and Ag grid-supported oxygen catalyst as cathode. Benefited from its composite cathode, this hybrid battery can work in both primary Zn-air mode and secondary Zn-Ag mode in different mission profiles. When working as a primary battery, the Zn anode is oxidized and the ambient air is reduced by the oxygen catalyst inside cathode, producing an OCV of 1.5 V and a peak power density of 17.8 mW cm−2. When working as a secondary battery, the Zn anode is reduced and oxidized periodically while the Ag grid inside cathode is oxidized and reduced accordingly. The charge and discharge voltage plateaus are closely around 1.6 V, leading to an excellent energy efficiency of 95.2%. Moreover, this hybrid battery can switch its working modes smoothly without performance loss, and the battery flexibility is proved to be high in both working modes. In summary, this paper-based Zn-air/Ag hybrid battery is especially suitable for powering flexible electronics in both long-term discharge missions and multi-cycle rechargeable tasks.

In this work, a dual-electrolyte acid-salt configuration is demonstrated to significantly improve the voltage and power performances of a Mg-air battery. Using an acidic catholyte and a saline anolyte, the battery benefits from a broadened electrochemical window and reduced passivation, delivering double the peak power density and 46% higher open circuit voltage compared to a conventional single-electrolyte Mg-air battery. To optimize the acid-salt Mg-air battery, the species and concentrations of the salt and acid electrolytes are investigated, while the effect of electrode distance is explored. To understand the practical use of different ion exchange membranes in the dual-electrolyte configuration, we compare the performances of the cation, anion, and bipolar membranes, discussing their merits and limitations. The resulting acid-salt battery exhibits one of the highest performances of Mg-air batteries reported to date, displaying an energy density of 2043 mWh g-1 at 20 mA cm-2, and a discharge capacity of 1851 mAh g-1 with a Coulombic efficiency of 84% at 50 mA cm-2. This work brings the Mg-air battery closer to its theoretical capability and draws attention to the promising potential of dual-electrolyte systems.

In this work, we demonstrate a high-performance ultraviolet phototransistor (UVPT) based on the AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) configuration. When the device is biased at off state, the peak photoresponsivity (R) of 3.6 × 107 A/W under 265 nm illumination and 1.0 × 106 A/W under 365 nm illumination can be obtained. Those two R values are one of the highest among the reported UVPTs at the same detection wavelength under off-state conditions. In addition, we investigate the gate-bias (VGS) dependent photoresponse of the fabricated device with the assistance of band structure analysis. It was found that a more negative VGS can significantly reduce the rise/decay time for 265 nm detection, especially under weak illumination. This can be attributed to a largely enhanced electric field in the absorptive AlGaN barrier that pushes the photo-generated carriers rapidly into the GaN channel. In contrast, the VGS has little impact on the switching time for 365 nm photodetection, since the GaN channel has a larger absorption depth and the entire UVPT simply acts as a photoconductive-type device. In short, the proposed AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure with the superior photodetection performance paves the way for the development of next generation UVPTs.

The ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor β gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) gives promise to low conduction loss and high power for electronic devices. However, due to the natural poor thermal conductivity of β-Ga2O3, their power devices suffer from serious self-heating effect. To overcome this problem, we emphasize on the effect of device structure on peak temperature in β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) using TCAD simulation and experiment. The SBD topologies including crystal orientation of β-Ga2O3, work function of Schottky metal, anode area, and thickness, were simulated in TCAD, showing that the thickness of β-Ga2O3 plays a key role in reducing the peak temperature of diodes. Hence, we fabricated β-Ga2O3 SBDs with three different thickness epitaxial layers and five different thickness substrates. The surface temperature of the diodes was measured using an infrared thermal imaging camera. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results. Thus, our results provide a new thermal management strategy for high power β-Ga2O3 diode.

Negative-SET behavior, induced by nano-filament overgrowth phenomenon, takes major responsibility to the reset failure phenomenon in conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM). The unexpected negative-SET behavior in CBRAM devices can result in serious reliability issues and has been an obstacle on the way to mass production. In this letter, we have proposed a back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible TiN barrier layer to improve the device reliability in CBRAM devices by eliminating the nano-filament overgrowth phenomenon and negative-SET behavior. Thus, a higher reset voltage can be applied to the TiN barrier layer devices to achieve more complete reset process and obtain better resistive switching performance. The results show that the Cu/HfO2/TiN/Ru device with one transistor structure has excellent comprehensive memory properties, including high reliability, fast switching speed, high resistance state uniformity, high endurance, long retention, and multi-level storage ability.